


Out among the danger

by Marishna



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Casual Sex, From Sex to Love, Hurt Stiles, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 22:03:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7775344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marishna/pseuds/Marishna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They let their guard down, maybe got cocky. Stiles was so used to their fights ending with them coming out on top that he never considered what would happen if the worst happened.</p>
<p>Then it did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out among the danger

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "mutation" at the LJ comm fullmoon_ficlet.

That it hadn't happened earlier was a miracle.

They let their guard down, maybe got cocky. Stiles was so used to their fights ending with them coming out on top that he never considered what would happen if the worst happened.

Then it did.

He wasn't even supposed to be at the stakeout but he needed a break from writing one of his midterm papers over Thanksgiving break during his freshman year. Scott texted him updates about how boring the stakeout was, how quiet Derek was, how hungry he was.

Meanwhile, Derek texted Stiles to not-so-subtly ask for a booty call later that night. Stiles was sure Derek knew how to do romance, felt it when Derek held him after they would both come their brains out and collapse onto each other for a brief few minutes, but their relationship was all business otherwise.

He was at a good stopping point in his paper so Stiles figured he'd do a nice thing and bring them something to eat.

Last nice thing he did for a while.

Flash forward a half hour and Stiles was fighting for his life from something none of them had ever seen before. She looked normal but as soon as she saw Scott's car and Stiles leaning on the side of it, totally unaware, she knew they were there for her. 

Derek was the first to react and shouted a warning to Stiles but it was too late. She was on him immediately, her face shifting dark and ridged with scaly skin and burning red eyes. 

Scott and Derek were quick but she was quicker.

Her fangs burned as they sank into the back of Stiles' neck. He remembered screaming, his voice going thin and reedy almost immediately as he felt something slip into his blood stream. He imagined the scene from every viral-outbreak movie where the infected cells multiplied at an alarmingly quick rate and that was his last thought before he passed out.

***

"... got away, trying to track her now but..."

"... need to know what she..."

"... wake up? What if he..."

"... hear me? Please, Stiles. _Please_ , wake..."

"... matter of time..."

"... a mutation? What is it..."

"... we just wait."

***

Stiles didn't open his eyes but he was awake. He could hear the soft rustle of turning pages every so often and the quiet hum of traffic but it was quiet otherwise. 

"What am I?" he whispered, eyes still shut tight.

He heard something be put down, quick movements and then there was a hand on his arm.

"Stiles, open your eyes."

Derek. That was a relief because he'd tell Stiles the truth. He wouldn't get a pained look like from Scott, or a carefully blank look from Deaton, or a terrified look from his father.

"What am I?" Stiles repeated, refusing to look.

Derek sighed. "Nothing yet."

Stiles frowned, felt his forehead scrunch up, then opened his eyes. "What?"

Derek looked down at him with a suspiciously soft expression. "Hey, welcome back."

"How long have I been out?"

"Two days," Derek replied, running the backs of his fingers down Stiles' cheek. It felt weird in the sense that he didn't expect that from Derek.

"That thing bit me." Derek nodded. "I felt.. something."

"Deaton thinks he got whatever she put in you out."

"Thinks?"

"We weren't working with exact science, Stiles."

Stiles turned his head, away from Derek's hand, and looked around. He was in one of the spare exam rooms at the vet clinic. He pushed up slowly, letting Derek support him, and saw he was laying on a pad on top of the exam table with blankets over him. Gold star accommodations. 

"My dad?"

"Thinks you're hanging out at Scott's. None of your vitals did anything weird so we didn't want to worry him," Derek explained and Stiles nodded. He reached a hand up to his neck slowly and touched the bandage that covered his bite. 

For Stiles the question was heavy in the air but he didn't know if Derek felt it too. He didn't look up at him as he drew in a shaky breath and said, "What if I change?"

Out of the corner of his eye Stiles saw Derek shrug. "What if you do?"

Stiles looked up sharply. "I could be dangerous, like _her_."

"We're all dangerous, Stiles," Derek replied. "Even you with your baseball bat and Jeep. It's how you _use_ your weapons that makes you dangerous, not that you have them."

Stiles bit his lip. "I don't want to be different. I don't want to change and lose everything."

Derek shifted and perched on the edge of the table-cum-bed and held Stiles' chin lightly to look at him steadily. "What do you think you'd lose?"

Stiles tried to shake his head but Derek held firm. "School, my dad, friends... you."

Derek sighed and gave Stiles a half smile. "That's my line."

Stiles blinked. "Uh?"

"Every time I see you I'm sure that's it, you're going to say we're done. You never do, but it's there," Derek said, tapping at his temple.

Stiles shook his head. "But I thought..."

 "What?" Derek asked in all seriousness and then Stiles realized. 

"Nothing. Ignore me, I'm being paranoid."

"Do you know any other way?" Derek asked and Stiles poked him in the side.

"Watch out or I'll bite you and make you like me if I change," he threatened, feeling weird but unrelated to his bite or anything potentially coursing through his system.

Derek just nodded. "Okay."


End file.
